How a good old fashioned boycott got Canada to trade Kentucky bourbon for Canadian whisky

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/canada-us-bourbon-popularity-9.7028355

21 Comments

  1. I’ve switched to Okanogan spirits BRBN, and it’s a great replacement to American bourbon. Even if American alcohol returns to the shelves, I would continue to buy this product.

  2. Elbows up boomers… we cannot be serious that this is moving needle on trade. Whisky is well under 0.1% of trade between Canada and USA.

  3. Not me – every time someone I know, or myself, goes to the US, we bring a bottle of bourbon back duty-free, which you are eligible for after 48 hours.
    Got a good stockpile building up.

    Same with friends and work/business colleagues that do the same, and we’ve already had a couple bourbon nights at each other’s homes.
    Fortunately, the people in my social circle aren’t basement dwellers like those on here are.

    And I buy Japanese Whisky here in Canada as an alternative if I want to buy something, not Canadian.

  4. Particular-One-4810 on

    This is such a bizarre story from CBC. I’m glad US companies are suffering but this wasn’t a “good old fashioned boycott.” Provincial governments ordered American liquor pulled from shelves, which remains the case in most provinces. This was a policy decision, not a consumer boycott.

    This story doesn’t even mention the provincial bans until the 11th paragraph (and it’s only mentioned in that single paragraph).

  5. Confident-Task7958 on

    The damage to imported booze is likely permanent – once people try new products they often stay with those products. Even if the boycott were to end tomorrow Kentucky whisky would not return to its historical level of sales in the Canadian market.

    Ditto for California wines – people have discovered other vintages.

    And the longer the boycott continues, the deeper the long-term loss of market share.

  6. I think I just saw a CBC video this week that said that Canadian alcohol sales hadn’t increased that much, and that many people have been turning not to Canadian whiskeys, but Irish ones instead. The video said more needs to be done to promote Canadian alternatives and besides that, noted that people on average aren’t drinking as much anyway.

  7. Do Canadian consumers really shift to Canadian whiskey, though? Someone from the restaurant industry in my local news said that the bourbon prohibition caused increase in demand for Irish and Scotch whiskies.

  8. I love this. Im a whiskey lover and would buy a different bottle every few weeks to add to my bar. I have 100 or so bottles. I will NEVER buy a American bottle asgain. Keep it up Canada. There are plenty or great options out there.

  9. I was doing that for years before the boycott because you can get say Crown Royal Northern Harvest Rye for about the cost of a bottle of Jack.

  10. I still buy bourbon idc. There’s some decent Canadian options I’ve discovered. I wont lie we do have good stuff hut I like my bourbon and I’m gonna continue to get it when possible.

  11. lifeismusicmike on

    We have excellent Whisky and Canada, we need to get the provincial borders to fall and also get our fine producers to up the shipping.

  12. Whiskey is my favorite hard liquor, personally I’ve always bought Canadian brands. I always see people trash the quality on here, but obviously I’ve been satisfied with it since its usually my drink of choice. Is it just that I don’t know better or are other whiskey/bourbon brands actually that good?

  13. SouvlakiSpartan on

    Eh I bought a bunch of bourbon before the ban went into place and sold them for double after they removed them from the shelf.

    People would rather pay double for Bourbon than buy Canadian whisky..

    That says a lot.